Graham Williams gives five stars across the board for Utah Symphony’s new Dawn To Dust recording!
“The programme opens with ‘Eos (Goddess of the Dawn)’ by Augusta Read Thomas (b.1964) whose command of a wide ranging orchestral palette is breathtaking. … The music is full of ravishing orchestral sonorities, the subtle use of glittering percussion and writing for winds being immediately striking, whilst the almost Mahlerian string passages in the fourth section ‘Dreams and Memories’ are equally memorable. … Though [Nico Muhly’s] music is harmonically complex, sometimes densely textured and often quite austere, its uncompromising originality and lack of pretension encourages repeated listening. … The programme is completed by ‘Switch, a wildly energetic, one might almost say hyperactive, percussion concerto, written by Los Angeles based Andrew Norman and performed here with the utmost virtuosity by Colin Currie. … As is to be expected from this audiophile label, the sound quality on this 5.1 channel SACD (recorded and post produced in 64fs DSD) is awesome. The wide dynamic range of the recording allows both the subtlest string pianissimos and the loudest percussive climaxes to be reproduced with equal fidelity – every instrument clearly identified within a soundstage that possesses convincing width and depth. … Exemplary notes on these compositions written by their respective composers complete this stimulating release.” —Graham Williams, HRAudio.net
Read the full review on HRAudio.net
Dawn To Dust
World Premieres of Three Works Commissioned by the Utah Symphony
Utah Symphony
Thierry Fischer, Music Director
DAWN TO DUST contains live recordings of three significant and adventurous works by leading composers Augusta Read Thomas, Nico Muhly, and Andrew Norman. World-renowned percussionist Colin Currie performs on Andrew Norman’s “Switch.”